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Windows scripting – the computing equivalent of the German football team.
I suppose I should qualify that statement, if only to avoid irate comments from any German readers.
The German National side has always been admired rather than loved.

Yes, they have been more successful than most, and have produced more than their share of great players (Beckenbauer,
Rummenigge, Matthaus…add you’re own favourites here). Yet they are rarely cheered by the neutral.
This lack of popularity probably has quite a bit to do with the fact that, in major finals, Germany seem to be condemned to be cast as the bad guys against the forces of footballing light (the Total Football of Cruyff’s Netherlands in 1974), or the plucky underdog (Czechoslovakia in 1976, Denmark in 1992).

The footballing triumph regarded by Germans above all others is Das Wunder von Berne.
The 1954 World Cup Final was meant to be a coronation of one of the great teams in history. The Hungarians of Ferenc Puskas came into the final on the back of an unbeaten run going back 4 years, including an 8-3 thrashing of West Germany in the group stages of the tournament.

After eight minutes of the final, all was going to plan with Hungary already 2-0 up. What followed was one of the great comebacks – and great upsets – in the history of the game. Rahn completed the miracle with his second of the match, and the winner, with six minutes left.
Sepp Herberger, Fritz Walter and Helmut Rahn are the German equivalent of Alf Ramsey, Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst. Outside of Germany, they remain largely unknown.
Incidentally, apologies for that 1966 reference, but unlike Germans (Italians, Spaniards…) we English have only that single triumph, or the odd glorious failure to look back on.

So, back to Windows batch scripting. It’s widely used, but next to the richness and variety of it’s siblings in the unix world, it appears hideously limited. However, there are times where it is simply unavoidable.